Band: Der Blutharsch/Aluk Todolo Country: Austria/France
Style: Krautrock/Psychedelic Rock
Label: WKN
This was a weird one when I found it, a little trouble child. The idea of a semi-black metal krautrock band playing with a neofolk, post-industrial psyche rock band just seemed a bit odd, add in the whole church thing, and this just gets over the top. I'm sure to others this might have seemed like a match made in heaven, sonically, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it at first.
I think it's a pretty fair assumption to say that only people who enjoy experimental music are going to check this out. This is by far one of the most left-field albums I've heard this year and I'm sure a lot of people will not like it. This four track affair features a sound that is very expansive but repetitive, with each track going over ten minutes to demonstrate various variations on a single pattern. Opener I is a perfect example of what goes on in these tracks, a very minimal drum loop and bass-line are repeater throughout the course of a song that moves into different elements that range from noise to black metal, whether or not you find that entertaining, or even interesting will depend on how much you enjoy experimental music. I'd imagine a lot of listeners would be bored listening to a song that just repeats a beat for over ten minutes, if that's what you focus on, but I actually enjoyed the repetition on here. I feel the need to mention that a lot of the beats used on here sound like they came out of a hip-hop song, honestly.
While the foreground of most of these songs is the beat, I found that each track developed very naturally, growing from very soft and minimalistic intros and just building into bigger climaxes and then falling again. I find the background of these tracks to really be so experimental, so much sound coming in and out. The krautrock vibes are carried throughout the entire disc while the metal, noise, ambient, post-rock, industrial, and other sounds are just coming in left and right, it really is an entrancing album. I actually found very little of this to be boring, with II really being the only track that hasn't struck me yet. While I don't partake myself, I'd imagine those of us who use drugs could really trip out to this record, whether or not it's a good trip or not though, I have no idea, but it'd make for one hell of a ride.
I really enjoyed this collaboration, even though at first it seemed like a weird paring to me, it turned out to be quite fruitful. Like I said above, I'd imagine most people not really being able to get into this, as it is pretty weird at times, but it's really good. Definitely check it out if you're into experimental music, or left-field black and doom metal even, this is good stuff.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: I, III
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